Racism and Health II

Session Submission Type: Traditional (Closed) Panel

Abstract

Both racism and health are in/sensible: elusive to define and measure, and yet urgent and palpable. What can scholars in science and technology studies contribute to understanding how racism and health intersect in science and in society? This open panel welcomes a broad range of approaches to this question. Papers might explore how social inequality becomes materially embodied; how scientists and social justice advocates mobilize data about the impact of racism for antiracist projects; the future of identity politics for health in shifting political landscapes in specific countries and transnationally; the epistemological practices of biological and social sciences that make truth claims about racism and health; the roles of pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, and other technologies in ameliorating/exacerbating inequality; the ways that pseudo/scientific racial narratives operate within and beyond scientific spheres; and much more. This open panel invites papers that make empirical and theoretical contributions to the intersectional, interdisciplinary viewpoints of how racism (not just race) alters modes of technoscience, knowledge production, and governance around health. It seeks to generate new networks and conversations among STS scholars to interrogate these vital questions.

Sub Unit

• 4S Annual Meeting

Chairs

• Anne Pollock, Georgia Tech

• Melissa Creary, University of Michigan, School of Public Health

Individual Presentations

• Using a Structural Competency Framework to Teach Structural Racism in Pre-Health Education - Jonathan Metzl, Vanderbilt MHS

• Making Limits to the Body: The Production of Somatic Differences to Grant Access to Healthcare - Jorge Castillo-Sepúlveda, University of Santiago de Chile

• Reframing Risk, Health, and Security: Nurses Challenge the National Smallpox Vaccination Program of 2002 - Gwen D'Arcangelis, Skidmore College

• Furthering The Case for Black Disability Studies as Praxis - Moya Bailey, Northeastern University; Izetta Mobley, University of Maryland College Park